CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Yearly homicide totals in Cleveland continued to seesaw in 2013, dropping more than 11 percent from last year’s totals, which themselves were a 30 percent jump over 2010 numbers.

Cleveland Police officially recorded 86 homicides in its borders as of Monday, down from 97 in 2012. In 2010, the city recorded 77 killings, while in 2007 there were 134.

"While it is good that we’ve had fewer homicides this year, I’m not happy that so many people lost their lives to violence," Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said through a spokeswoman. "Each and every homicide has an impact on our community."

Countywide, homicides inched up this year – the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office counted 123 homicides in 2013 as of Monday, up from 122 at this time last year.

When the medical examiner's office finalized its 2012 cases, it ruled 31 out of 141 Cuyahoga County homicides had occurred outside Cleveland. In 2013, that number rose to 37.

The medical examiner's office counted 80 Cleveland residents among its homicide deaths in 2013. Monday, it was projecting a countywide total of 130 homicides.

Police, who use FBI guidelines in reporting crime, only tally killings deemed intentional as homicides. The medical examiner does not determine who is at fault in its statistic gathering.

The figures, which will likely not be finalized until the spring, do not include cases the medical examiner's office has not officially ruled on, including the deaths of Peaches Christburg, 2, and Glacia Ramsey, 7, two girls killed in a South Collinwood house fire Dec. 12, which police and fire officials are investigating as an arson. No arrest has been made.

Many of the investigations remain open and unsolved, including the mysterious stabbing of 53-year-old Aliza Sherman at 75 Erieview Square downtown. Sherman, a fertility nurse at the Cleveland Clinic, was found bleeding badly outside her divorce attorney's office about 5:30 p.m. March 24, still with her purse.

The numbers also include cases that have been closed, like the Jan. 4 shooting of Abou Kane at his East Side storefront, Well Fashion. Bernard Richardson was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery with firearm specifications.

The year's first homicide came just hours into the New Year, and is among those still making their way through court. Police found Nathan Brown on his Hilgert Avenue porch about 2:30 a.m. with a shotgun wound to his right thigh. He eventually bled to death.

Brothers Marcellus and Montell Smith, 22 and 19 respectively, and 18-year-old Charles Carter are awaiting trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on aggravated murder charges in Brown's death.

Historically, the city’s 2013 homicide rate is a marked drop from highs in the 1970s. The city’s homicide record came in 1972, when 333 people were slayed inside city limits. But with a population of more than 750,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the homicide rate was 44.34 per 100,000 residents – more than double this year’s rate at 22.05.

Here are some additional statistics about homicides in Cleveland in 2013.

Someone was killed in Cleveland every 4.3 days in 2013.

Nearly 85 percent (73) were done with a gun.

Nearly 80 percent (67) of the victims were men.

The average homicide victim was 30.6 years old.

Victims ranged in age from 3 to 59 years old.

Three victims were shot and killed while at work.

Longest span between homicides was 24 days, from May 29 through June 22.

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